Healthy Foods from Healthy Soils: A Hands-on Resource for Teachers

by Elizabeth Patten, Kathy Lyons, Helen Stevens

Overview

Healthy Foods from Healthy Soils invites you and your students to discover where food comes from, how our bodies use food, and what happens to food waste.
You'll participate in the ecological cycle of food production — compost formation — recycling back to the soil, while helping children understand how their food choices affect not only their own health, but farmers, the environment, and your local community. Suggested resources encourage you to adapt the program to your needs, small scale or large, urban or rural. Handy extension activities demonstrate ways that students can help effect change in their own lives and communities. Background information, suggested readily available materials, and clear instructions give you enough guidance to integrate these hands-on activities into your classroom right away.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780884482420
Publisher:	Tilbury House Publishers
Publication date:	02/28/2003
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	5 - 11 Years

About the Author

Elizabeth Patten is a dietician working in the fiels of health education who lives with her family and several thousand red wigglers.

Kathy Lyons is an environmental educator and puppeteer who first created Annelida the worm puppet for a recycling program. Annelida has since joined the team as a "spokesworm" for this program.

Helen Stevens is an illustrator and graphic artist who lives in Maine.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	viii
	Introduction	x
	How to Use This Guide	xi
	Using Puppets: Annelida in the Classroom	xiv
	Where Does Food Come From?	1
	Lets Get Grounded	1
	It's a Small World Demonstrate the finite nature of earth's resources	2
	Are All Soils Created Equal? Make soil quality comparisons	6
	Alive and Thriving! Play a micro-farm game to learn what plants need	10
	Go to Seed! Welcome a classroom visitor to illustrate seed germination	15
	Sprout Yourself! Take a storytelling break	18
	Bark and Seeds for Breakfast Play a guessing game and snack on plant parts	21
	Who Grows Our Food?	25
	What Is Locally Grown? Map the sources of the food you eat	26
	Old-Fashioned Food Conduct a mini-oral history project	31
	Once Upon a Farm Take a storytelling break: visit the agricultural life gone by	35
	Visiting a Grower Organize a field trip to an "outdoor classroom"	39
	Figuring Out Our Food System Create a food system collage	44
	The ART in AgRiculTure Harvest a crop of poems	48
	Choosing Food for Body & Soul	51
	Choosing for Health	52
	Dear Diary... Keep a food and health diary	53
	Pyramids Near You Plan a regional menu using the food pyramid	59
	Anatomy in Action Build a model digestive tract	63
	Read the Small Print Practice consumer skills	67
	What Are "Whole Foods"? Differentiate between processed and unprocessed foods	71
	Pick a Food, Any Food Classify a "typical" diet using a Venn diagram	75
	French Fries and Couch Potatoes Analyze television's influence on food choices	78
	Sugar Detectives Find the sources of hidden sugar in common foods	83
	What If All I Ate Were Potato Chips? Examine the consequences of food choices in a "typical" diet	87
	Feast for the Eyes Design food for beauty--way beyond ants on a log!	91
	Choosing for Taste	93
	The Global Staff of Life Bake with whole grains	94
	Guess with Gusto! Play a guessing game to experience the range of senses	99
	Taste Buds Rule Explore the sweet, the sour, the bitter, the salty, and "umami"	102
	Oodles of Noodles Compare, then prepare a pasta meal	105
	What's for Lunch? Travel the Internet to learn about lunch around the globe	110
	Traditions at the Table Trace the roots of different food traditions and customs	113
	Choosing for Costs	116
	Dollars and Sense Calculate and compare prices based on nutrients	117
	Farm to Table Calculate the travel costs for foods you consume	123
	Dear Diary ... Again Reviewing our food and health diary	128
	Putting "Garbage" To Work	131
	Tracking Food Waste	132
	It All Adds Up Chart your lunchroom's food waste	133
	Lunch at the Dump Tour a landfill, transfer station, or recycling facility	138
	Recycled Art Create puppets using recycled objects	143
	A Worm's-Eye View of Composting	147
	Vermicomposting Basics Sidebar	148
	Vermi-Condos Build a small-scale "worm farm" for classroom observations	153
	What Worms Want How to make authentic vermicompost in the classroom	157
	Compost Creatures and Friends Play Worm Bin Bingo and make a Worm Bin Field Guide	164
	Black Gold: A Small Business Lesson Composting for change!	170
	Let's Grow Our Own	173
	Room to Grow Imaginary play activity provides review of garden basics	174
	Vegetable Pop-Up Puppets Make vegetable puppets that "grow"!	179
	What Does Your Garden Grow? A review of practical hands-on garden basics	181
	The Real Dirt Sidebar	184
	Grow a Row Sidebar	187
	The Classroom Is Sprouting Observe seed germination close-up!	190
	Sow Many Seeds! Celebrate diversity and variety in the garden	195
	Theme Gardens Sidebar	198
	How to Keep a Good Thing Going Preserving food for later	200
	Soil Made My Supper! Dramatize the food cycle through a "Theater in the Round"	203
	Appendix	207
	Glossary	207
	Commoner's Laws of Ecology	212
	Ten Steps for Taking Action	214
	Food Security and Food Recovery	215
	Making Food with Children	217
	Selected Nutrition Information	219
	What Do We Have in Common with Plants?	221
	Dietary Guidelines	223
	Creating a Recycled Sock or Nylon Wiggler Puppet	225
	Bibliography	228
	Index	249
	Finale: The Salad Garden Cafe and a Salsa Fiesta!	255

What People are Saying About This

Chris Gill

Want to help kids plant a rainbow garden? Build a worm condo? Understand how much sugar one cola contains? This is the book for you. A Hands-on Resource for Educators is the subtitle of this teaching manual. Food choices affect not only personal health but also local economics and global environmental concerns. You can lead children to consider ways to create a healthier and more sustainable future. Authors Patten and Lyons have been using these concepts and methods in their teaching since 1995 when they started a pilot project with funding from the USDA's Food & Consumer Service. Four sections cover where food comes from, food choices and nutritional issues, putting garbage to work, and growing your own food. Lessons are keyed to the "Benchmarks for Science Literacy" with each lesson providing goals, key points, background information, instructions, and other helpful resources. Sprinkled throughout the sections are hands-on activities like making pizza dough and constructing worm condos. From Agriculture to Zoo Gardens, this manual can support your classroom efforts to bring a greater awareness of food and nature to your students. 2003, Tilbury House Publishers, Ages 5 to 12. --Chris Gill

Editorial Reviews

A superb book [that] every K–6 teacher should see and use. The lessons are keyed to the Benchmarks for Science Literacy.

The MOF&G

This extensive resource of activities will keep youth actively engaged discovering local connections between food, the environment, and the economy.

Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior

Links to standards, extensive resource lists and background information for every investigation. Highlights a vital area for study.

Connect Magazine

A
treasure chest of information.

NSTA Science Scope